Educator brings Far East to West Tennessee

When students entered Mrs. Nita Jones' room at Dyersburg Primary School at the beginning of the school year, they stepped into the Far East, complete with all the mystery and enchantment of the region. A step that Jones herself took this summer as a member of the People to People Ambassadors Program.

State Gazette photo Dyersburg Primary School's Elementary Counselor Nita Jones shares with her students some of souvenirs from a recent trip to China with the People to People Ambassadors Program. On the trip, Jones learned that counseling techniques for children in China are far behind practices in the U.S. and reinforced her belief that children are children wherever they live.

Jones traveled with several members of the American Counseling Association for two weeks over her summer break and received an in depth look at counseling techniques for children in China and Mongolia.

Partnering with community members to attend the tour, she plans to share the information she gathered by speaking to area organizations and service clubs. And within the first month of school, she has already brought the experience into her classroom.

"I wanted to make sure I could get something out of (this trip) that I could come back and use (with my students,)" said Jones. "Kids get so excited over anything new. A lot of them haven't been out of Dyersburg and Memphis is another world."

Jones met her students at the door in a red silk traditional Chinese shirt and shoes that she watched being made at a factory in Beijing. Using a globe, she showed students the distance she traveled to learn how to help children in a land so far away. And then, with the enthusiasm and zeal that she brings to the classroom every day, she took them with her to experience that exotic land without ever leaving her classroom.

During her trip, Jones learned much about the educational, medical and counseling practices in China and Mongolia, but also found out that children are children throughout the world.

"The one thing I wanted to get across to my students is that kids are kids wherever you go," said Jones, who said that Dyersburg Primary School has recently had an increase of students who speak Spanish. "Sometimes (those students) are shy to speak up in class because when they do, the other children laugh. They are not laughing at them, but at the way the words sound. I told my students that the children in China spoke differently than I speak, but that I would never laugh at them because that might hurt their feelings."

Jones tries to incorporate diversity into her curriculum on a regular basis and her experience in China has added a rich texture to that lesson.

"The children in China love tennis shoes and any type of sports jersey," said Jones. "They wore T-shirts with writing on them. They love video games and movies, things our kids love. I try to teach my kids diversity all the time. That children may look different, they may sound different, but they are still people just like us."

Jones put her photos into a power point presentation to share with the children and brought back souvenirs that she is not afraid to let them touch and handle.

"The kids have had a ball," she said. "They loved to hear about the other kids. They had a lot of questions."

Favorite souvenirs among the children include money, ceremonial hats, chopsticks, books, games, musical instruments and commemorative Olympic pins that she purchased and allowed them to try on and handle. She brought back several books with examples of English and Chinese text so that her students can compare the differences between English words and the art-like images that make up the Chinese language.

"I kindly want them to know that there is another world out there other than Dyersburg," said Jones. "I told them, 'Miss Nita couldn't travel like this when she was your age,' so that they know that they may have to wait for a trip like this."

Jones trip included locations of professional interest with meetings on local counseling techniques, but also allowed time for members to tour a monastery, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City and locations that will host the 2008 Olympics.

"The Chinese people are just amazing," said Jones. "They teach their preschoolers the value of truth, kindness and beauty. They also learn the basics of their native language and receive Moral Education. They have a nine-year compulsory attendance law and take a National College Entrance Exam. If they don't pass, they don't go to college. They are very, very family-oriented. And they think of education as a privilege."

Counseling opportunities and practices for children in China are not as advanced as they are here in the United States, but Jones was able to connect with other leaders in the counseling industry on the trip. She even received an invitation to return next summer to aid a counselor from Paris in assisting local Mongolian children.

"In counseling, they are behind us," said Jones. "For years and years they did not recognize people that needed help. It was considered a disgrace and the families hid (members with emotional disabilities.) It wasn't until the early or mid-90's that patients, and children, started to receive treatment."

Jones is not sure that her teaching schedule will allow her to accept the invitation to return next summer and lend aid Chinese and Mongolian children, but she is not ruling out the possibility.

"I don't know if we will be able to do it, I think it would be a fascinating thing and we were flattered (to be asked,)" said Jones. "It was a chance of a lifetime. That is the ways I viewed it. I could not have happened if I had not had community support. I have had several people that have been very generous to me. I wish everybody could have a chance to have the experience that I did."